International Mistral Class Organisation

Minutes of the 2002 Mistral One Design Annual General Meeting

Held at the Pattaya Park Beach Resort Hotel, Jomtien Beach, Pattaya

Wednesday, December 11^th @ 1830hrs & Thursday, December 12^th @ 1830hrs

Present: (Votes held in Brackets)

Observer:  Vladimir Plavsic (AHO), Kelly Hand (CAN), Barry Johnson (AUS) & Brendan Todd (AUS)

Chair:  Qu Chun (CHN)
Committee Members present: Hernan Vila (ARG), Cowen Chiu (HKG)

1.       PREVIOUS MINUTES & ANNUAL REPORTS

a.       Receive and approve minutes of the AGM 2001 in Athens, Greece

Proposed GER Seconded CAN – unanimous vote in favour

b.       Report from President of IMCO International (Greg Johns), the IMCO Continental representatives, The IWA Representative (Diedrich Bakker) and the acting treasurer  (Ivor Hopkins)

i) Presidents report

·          Activity remains strong

·          Thanks to the class Chief Measurer and his team for working on the new class rules

·          Thanks to ISAF and Boards & more for their co-operation to produce better boards

·          Longboard structure now ready for authorization by this AGM – agreed by other classes

·          ISAF Evaluation Trials to be staged in 2003

ii) South America (Hernan Vila)

·          Hard Year in South America due to Fiscal problems

·          Races were staged in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay & Venezuela

·          Difficult to get equipment die to poor distribution by North Sports USA

·          2003 South American Champs to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina

·          Open invitation to al to come and train/race in excellent conditions

iii) Oceania (Bill Joselin)

·          Growing youth fleet on eastern seaboard of Australia

·          2003 Oceania Championships to be staged in New Zealand

·          2004 Oceania Championships to be staged in Melbourne

·          Dedicated youth training with Bruce in new Zealand

iv) Asia (Cowen Chiu)

·          6 Asian Circuit Regattas

·          All count towards the Asian Ranking List

·          2004 Asian Championship to be held in Singapore at beginning of January

·          Disciplines in 2006 Asian Games (Appendix 1)

v) North America (Mike Gebhardt)

·          Junior Racing Programme now being actively pursued both for FW & IMCO

·          Bid for Mistral Youth Worlds in 2005

vi) Europe (Rory Ramsden)

·          Continued strong activity

·          Big fleet of Youths and Juniors at the Mistral Europeans

·          Bernard Beudou has resigned from the Executive Committee. Thanks for all his advice

·          2002 Test Event in Athens was a success

·          However, sad loss of Danny Scheinin (ISR) in Athens due to heart attack. Our sympathy to his family and thanks for his dedication

vii) Africa (Naufel Chouchene – TUN)

·          National Authorities on north African coast co-operating to develop events

·          IMCO must do more to support these initiatives

·          Distribution of equipment can be a problem

viii) IWA Report (Diedrich Bakker)

·          Real progress made in 2002

·          Combined yearbook

·          White paper

·          Longboard structure established

·          Shortboard structure being worked on

ix) Acting Treasurer’s Report

·          All IMCO revenue now passed to the IWA

·          IWA Treasurer will continue to produce annual financial report for each class

·          Debtors increased substantially (break down requested)

·          General Development fund to be established using accrued capital (€uro 44,000 approx) to be used for the benefit of the sport. Details to be worked out and a report produced for 2003 AGM

2. ATHENS TEST EVENT, ISAF DECISION, MISTRAL REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT

i) Athens Test Event and ISAF decision

·          ISAF report on 2002 Athens Test Event identified problem with boards leaking

·          No other major problems

·          ISAF and B&M working to solve outstanding matters in good spirit

·          Seamless board being delivered to the site for inspection. Testing has shown no change in performance

·          New construction method being implemented on all boards built after January 1^st 2003

·          ISAF decision is that only these boards may be used at the Olympic Regatta in 2004

ii) Warranty System (see Appendix 2)

·          Now to be handled by the warranty manager at Boards & More

·          IMCO will not get involved

·          Claimants to fill in a warranty claim form, take a digital photo of the problem area and forward it to B&M direct (see attached file for full procedure)

iii) Manufacturer’s report (see Appendix 3)

·          See attached file for Boris Zwetkoff’s report

3. 2003 CLASS RULES

After some discussion round the table, the 2003 class rules were approved with the following amendments to the text presented. (22 votes in favour/ESP abstains)

a) Jockey Colours

- H 10.1 – Area amended to 2000 sq cms

- H 10.2 (a) – Spray-painting permitted in addition to self-adhesive stickers

- H10.2 (b) – Design restricted to national flag, national colours or national emblem

b) Hull Weight

- C.6.2 – Minimum hull weight raised to 15.30 Kgs

c) Sanding of 2004 “Orange Peel” hull underside

- By a majority of 16 votes in favour and 9 against, the sanding of 2004 “Orange Peel” hull undersides was approved however the exact wording could not be agreed. The Chief measurer was thus asked to come forward with satisfactory wording for approval at the 2003 MOD AGM. There being no wording agreed for this amendment, the 2003 class rules do not include this amendment.

4.  2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION SYSTEM

The meeting noted that the ISAF had established a system based on the ISAF Ranking List for allocating the maximum number of places available to each Member National Authority. This system allows each MNA to select the competitors to fill places as it wishes.

The Meeting therefore decided that IMCO should publish its own qualification system as usual as an aid to those MNAs who wished to use it. (23 votes in favour/AUS abstains)

5. 2003 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION SYSTEM

By a votes of 11 in favour and 9 against, it was agreed that the 2002 Semaine Olympique Francaise, Hyeres should count as the qualification regatta for the 2003 European Championship and not the 2003 edition of SOF.

Otherwise the 2003 editions of the normal qualification regattas shall be used.

6. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT – Longboard racing structure

a) By a vote of 22 in favour, it was agreed that IMCO will co-operate with the Int. Raceboard Class by staging joint Masters championships.

b) By a vote of 22 in favour, it was agreed that the longboard racing structure be reviewed in 2005 in the light of the decision made by ISAF on the equipment to be used at the 2008 Olympics.

7) AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION (see Appendix 4)

i) By a vote of 26 in favour, it was agreed that the amendments to the constitution discussed at the 2001 Annual General Meeting be accepted.

ii) By a majority of 26 votes, the meeting agreed that it had no objection to changing the name on top of the constitution

8) IWA PRESENTATION

A power point presentation was made by Rory Ramsden, which defines the role of the IWA more clearly

9) IWA WHITE PAPER (see Appendix 5)

a) The report on the ISAF 2002 November Conference is attached.

Appendix 1

Proposal of ASF Windsurfing Committee put forward to the ASF meeting in Busan

In order to ensure the long term development of windsurfing in the Asian Continent the ASF Windsurfing Committee has discussed and would like to propose the following for the 2006 Asian Games;

1.       That Mistral One Design Class Women, Mistral OD Class Men Lightweight and Mistral OD Class Men Heavyweight will be events in the 2006 Asian Games Regatta, as well as in the Asian Sailing Championships in 2003 and 2005.

2.       That if during the 2004 ISAF meeting new equipment for windsurfing events in 2008 will be selected, that these events (Men and Women) will replace the Raceboard Class Men Lightweight and Raceboard Class Men Heavyweight for the 2005 Asian Sailing Championships and 2006 Asian Games Regatta.

3.       That if Mistral One Design continues to be the equipment of choice for 2008, that a decision will be made during the 2005 Asian Sailing Championships as to what equipment will be chosen to replace the Raceboard Class Men Lightweight and Raceboard Class Men Heavyweight in 2006.

It is important that the ASF Member Nations know the equipment far in advance in order to be able to invest with confident in new equipment.  The Mistral One Design Class is also widely available to ensure a low cost investment for a next Asian Games campaign and further youth development.

Appendix 2

Mistral One Design and Boards & More GmbH Warranty System 1/16.11.02

A.  COMMENT FROM IMCO:

IMCO has really tried to offer its customers, the sailors, help with equipment problems over the years, especially at times when the material was not being made properly (and there were many problems) and especially at times of poor availability.  Times are now – happily – much improved. We all anticipate far fewer equipment warranty problems from now to the Olympic Games 2004….and beyond.

B.       IMCOs POSITION:

So, with immediate effect IMCO will:

·          Concentrate on its core business of running regattas

·          No longer get involved in any equipment claims

·          Any subsequent queries/complaints to IMCO from MNAs or sailors on their properly submitted claims will be automatically forwarded to the Warranty Manager at Boards & More GmbH without comment

·          put their position and the action that sailors should take on the IMCO website (along with a .pdf file of the standard B&M warranty form) + a link to the Mistral website for the B&M warranty conditions.

·          It would also be sensible for BZ to mention this in his address to the IMCO AGM in Thailand.

C.  IMCO WEBSITE

ONE DESIGN WARRANTY SYSTEM + WARRANTY FORM (.pdf)

          If a technical problem occurs with any part of your One Design equipment, please make immediate contact with the person or company from whom you purchased your equipment

·          You will need a copy of your original receipt, you will need to complete a copy of the warranty claims form (this can be downloaded from the IMCO website) and you will need digital photograph (s) of the damage as this will help speed your claim.

·          The person or company from whom you purchased the equipment will then have to make a claim to Boards & More (B&M’s warranty conditions are on the mistral website www.mistral.com)

·          Equipment will no longer be exchanged at regattas:  if you need a replacement urgently then you will have to buy the item you need from a local dealer or importer and then claim later for the broken or faulty piece.

·          Any opinions offered by IMCO members are opinions only and will not have any bearing on Boards & More’s GmbH final decision

Appendix 3

Manufacturers Report

1.  CONTENT: 

Since the last Manufacturer’s report made by Ivor last year, quite a lot has happened which I shall deal with as concisely as possible.  Ivor has helped me with this report and we have focussed on the following areas:

A.  Background to B&M – company/management

B.  One Design 2004 –       a.  improvements in board build and quality

                                                 b.  improvements in the accessory items

                                                 c.  Warranty procedure

C.  What next?     a.  Prove competence with excellent equipment

1.       Youth Sailing                               

2.       i.  ISAF Youth Worlds
           b.             MJOD
               c.              IWA
           d.               2008

D. Summing Up

A.  BACKGROUND TO B&M

a.  Company:  Windsurfing brands: Arrows, Fanatic, F2, Mistral, North Sails, North Shore

3 key centres:

                                Molln, Austria – HQ, board production, finance & logistics

                                Oberhaching nr Munich, Germany – Sales & Marketing Centre

                                North Sails, Sri Lanka – sail and accessories production

b.  Key management:

                                Stefan Guter – MD Sales & Marketing

                                Juergen May – Product Engineer

                                Dieter Fellhofer – International Sales Mistral & North Sports

                                Boris Zwetkoff – Windsurfing Business Unit Manager

                                                Background with Fanatic; view of IMCO prior to involvement

Rumours about B&M’s lack of commitment not true – we are 100% behind the OD programme.

B.       THE MISTRAL ONE DESIGN 2004

B.a:  Board improvements

Stefan Guter to Juergen May,  Molln 23.09.02:

“You will swear to me that you will solve these problems!” 

The results of meetings at Molln with Cliff following the Test Event in Athens, board tests and many production hours can be seen in the board we have here.

Board improvements (= durability):

                Leaking – problem solved with ‘Seamless’ construction

                Mould uneveness in CB well – problem solved with insert in the mould

                Fin box front edge – best improvement – extra matting

                Centreboard cassette – problem solved – extra shims

Plus points:  1.  much improved awareness in the production in Molln - at all levels - of the seriousness of this action;

2.       German & Austrian Team training/testing reports very positive

B.b. Other improvements

Juergen May has been visiting B&M’s key OD suppliers in November

1.              Centreboard – tighten up build quality and explore extra stoppers built into the head.  B&M prefers a system that can be added to older centreboards.  Rory has a first prototype which works but needs improvement to make the stopper larger

2.              Fin – tighten up production procedure.

3.              Masts – one of the world’s foremost producers – nothing really to change

4.              Boom – re-working of the boom to modernise the boom tubes, front end & locking systems using proven North Sails parts and a new rear end to incorporate Haken roller blocks.  Some samples here.

A copy of the report we gave to ISAF for the Cyprus conference is on the notice board – we are trying to get the whole process ready for a production to start in January 03 with good ex stock availability from March.  Rory also has some copies for coaches/team leaders

Given the extra materials etc used in the boards and, due to the measurement actions that we need to take to ensure that all OD equipment supplied ex-works Molln can be used at the Olympic Regatta, there will be a price increase for this equipment.  However, this price increase will cover better produced and longer lasting equipment with extra quality and measurement controls as requested by ISAF.

B.c. Warranty Procedure

Availability and warranties are the two hottest subjects that B&M has in its dealings with IMCO.  Over the years, it is clear that IMCO has really tried to offer its customers, the sailors, help with equipment problems.  This was especially at times when the material was not being made properly (and there were many problems in the past, which you know better than I do) and especially at times of poor availability.  Times are now – happily – much improved.

We all anticipate far fewer equipment warranty problems from now to the Olympic Games 2004 and beyond so I would like to clarify the procedure for making claims as this is B&M’s business and not the role of IMCO – its officers have other priorities.  This means that IMCO should :

·          Concentrate on its core business of running regattas

·          No longer get involved in any equipment claims

·          Any subsequent queries/complaints to IMCO from MNAs or sailors on their properly submitted claims will be automatically forwarded to the Warranty Manager at Boards & More GmbH without comment

·          The action that sailors should take should be on the IMCO website (along with a .pdf file of the standard B&M warranty form)

There is a copy of the a paper agreed between B&M and IMCO on the notice board and on the website.  Our intention is to make the procedure clearer and more efficient.  We still expect to hear from IMCO if there are problems but B&M will make any replacement decisions.  We really need to keep on top of any equipment issues: after all, we are responsible for the manufacturing of the equipment whether directly, as in the board, or indirectly with the other items made for us.

C.  What next?

There are four key areas:

a.  Prove competence with excellent equipment and show that we are 100% behind the class

b. Youth Sailing:  B&M wants to make a strategic focus on Youth sailing

i.  ISAF Youth Worlds:  we are supplying equipment to the event in Portugal next year and are opening discussions with ISAF for the future support of the ISAF Youth Worlds using the One Design.  This will have a positive knock on effect on the

                ii. MJOD (Mistral Junior One Design Class) and we intend to support this area more fully than we have done so in the past.  This will need some discussion with the Class. 

c.        IWA:  as we are involved with racing at all levels and with a broad number of brands, we shall become more involved with this organisation

d.       2008:  There will be windsurfing in 2008, a fact that was until recently open for discussion!  Windsurfing is getting its act together.  Our response to the IWA White Paper on the Olympics 2008 is also on the notice board.  The equipment choice for 2008 will be made from 2 test events.  We are proposing to send a number of boards and rigs (M/Fan/F2/North), including the One Design (which we feel is in any case the best board for 2008 in China!) as well as a new racing board designed by Bruce Wylie.  This new board is here in a prototype form.  There is a good test team being put together and Rich Jeffries, who is leading the test, is a good choice.  We naturally hope that one of our designs wins but, whoever wins, the board and rigs will have to be made by a number of producers, including B&M, so we shall still have our irons in the fire!

D.       Summing up

When I was the Brand Manager for Fanatic, we used to look at all the IMCO activity and laugh at what was going on with the investment of time, the cost to the company, the equipment problems all of which had a negative effect on everyone except Ivor, who once chaired a very heated discussion with Fanatic importers on IMCO and the Olympics.  Since taking over my new role, I see this whole thing as a key strategic issue for B&M:

1.       Bottom line - It helps us sell more equipment – and the One Design is a constant seller

2.       It focuses us on the bigger picture of what windsurfing means to the outside world (and here Olympic aspiration is a huge tool)

3.       IMCO is a jewel that many manufacturers would love to have had and we see that utilising the excellence that it has built up over the years is actually crucial to the continued success of windsurfing racing at all levels

Boris Zwetkoff, IMCO AGM, Pattaya, Thailand, 11.12.02

Appendix 4

Approved changes to the IMCO constitution

a)       Art#1.06 insert new sentence at the end...

The classes governed by this constitution are members of the International Windsurfing Association (IWA)

b)       Art# 4.2  (annual membership subscriptions) insert the following phrase at the end…

in close co-operation with the IWA.

c)       Art# 7c

Clarify constitution by inserting the word "individual" before the word "members"

d)       Art# 12.1

i) Term for Committee members is to be 2 years not 4 years.

ii) That an elected member may serve no more than 4 terms in any one position

e)       Art# 13.1

That each class governed by the constitution shall have its own measurement committee

f)         Art# 13.1.2 - That each committee should have a membership made up of 30% women if possible – a goal but not mandatory

g)       Art# 14.4.1

That an "international" will have a greater number of votes in the Association Board than a "recognised" class

h)       Art# 17.1 --Independent Accountant's Annual Report:

That the Independent Accountant's Annual Report shall contain the revenues and expenditures of each class covered by this Constitution. 

i)         Art# 17.1.1

That the Association Board shall approve annual Revenue/expenditure budget. 

NB: These changes were approved b y ISAF at their 2002 November Conference

Appendix 5

Report on 2002 ISAF November Conference

GENERAL

The atmosphere at the conference was in total contrast to the last one. Delegates welcomed the new spirit of co-operation between the windsurfing classes. Paul Henderson was friendly to all representatives of the windsurfing classes without exception.

INTERNATIONAL CLASSES COMMITTEE MEETING - 09/11/02

Paul Henderson, ISAF President, addressed the meeting and confirmed that where a class dominates a section of the sport they lose a bit of autonomy and have to be in partnership with ISAF

A presentation was made on ISO9002 in which it was recommended that each producer should appoint an in-house measurer. This recommendation could be applied equally to Boards & More as the current manufacturer of Olympic equipment as to Cobra, the monopoly supplier of FW boards.

WINDSURFING COMMITTEE MEETING - 10/11/12

Ding Schoonmaker, ISAF Vice President responsible for windsurfing, addressed the meeting and confirmed that the 2002 Olympic test event had been successful. He thanked B&M and Cliff Norbury, ISAF sailing Committee Chairman, for their efforts and co-operation before confirming that the Mistral One Design should be confirmed as the equipment for use at the 2004 Olympics.

2002 Test Event

Cliff Norbury, leader of the 2002 test event Evaluation Committee confirmed that efforts to overcome the problems incorporated in the MOD have been successful and that he was satisfied that the MOD could be built by B&M to a sufficiently high standard for use at the 2004 Olympics.

The chairman of the WDS Committee thanked Cliff and his team before asking the committee to vote to confirm the recommendations of the 2002 test event Evaluation Committee; unanimously accepted

MOD Presentation

B&M made a presentation on the improvements carried out on the MOD and confirmed that Jurgen May is the product manager for MOD. Whilst assisting the B&M brands with their production challenges, Jurgen is the man solely responsible for ensuring that the B&M is made to a high and consistent standard.

·          The board will now be built with a seamless construction to prevent leaks.

·          The centreboard will be supplied with a factory fitted deck-stopper

·          and the majority of the remaining problems identified by Cliff have been addressed

·          Boom will be upgraded to match modern standards whilst maintaining the same curve and the same length. It will therefore effectively be a new stronger boom.

It was emphasized that the MOD is not considered to be “just another board in the Mistral range” but a very important product behind which the senior management of B&M stand squarely in support.  B&M want to support the Olympic sport/IWA/ in fact the whole sport and emphasized the need for co-operation.

An example of the “new” MOD was made available for the committee to examine.

Supplied equipment for the 2004 Olympic Regatta

ISAF decided in 2001 that equipment should be supplied. IOC guidelines require supplied equipment to be made available CIF to the Olympic venue with service personnel and spares at no cost to the organisers. No agreement exists between ISAF and ATHOG or B&M. It was stated by the Director of Sailing that it is highly unlikely that ISAF can put a deal together that will satisfy all parties including the IOC

If there is no “supplied equipment” what safeguards can be built in?  If supplied equipment is not possible then the conditions would be that the equipment could be from a controlled batch made after a certain date possibly with an in-built computer chip like with the 49er.

The Director of Sailing stated that the ISAF has to be prepared for competitors to bring their own equipment. Cliff then confirmed that he was not concerned whether equipment is supplied or competitor's own. However stringent checks will have to be put in place to catch out potential cheats. Equipment made after January 1^st ’03 will be eligible for use in the Olympic regatta; ISAF will visit Molln before that date to make final checks; Unanimously accepted.

Future Olympic Regattas

WDS support submission #49 and recommends that test events will be carried out in 2003 to identify potential new Olympic equipment for 2008;

Process:

a) Suggested committee for test event as put forward by the IWA - Rich Jeffries to chair - unanimous acceptance – All members of the WDS to be copied in on correspondence

b) ISAF Exec Com support with a £10,000 budget; IWA willing to help where possible;

c) Women’s committee support WDS position:

Windsurfer Class

Request withdrawal of international status - approved

MJOD accepted as International Class  - approved

RRS Appendix B

Director of sailing recommended that the easiest way to achieve an mended appendix B was for the classes to prepare a submission by August 1^st 2003. WDS approved submission in principle but rejected it on technical grounds and asked the classes to prepare the necessary submission. It was agreed that Luc Rogiers should act as the liaison between the classes and the ISAF 

Class Rule Changes

FW - Withdrawn

IMCO - withdrawn

MJOD - approved

NB – The WDS Committee meeting is normally scheduled to last 8 hours. The whole agenda was completed in 3 hours.

OLYMPIC CLASSES MEETING WITH PAUL HENDERSON – 11/11/02

A meeting to discuss the qualification system to be used by all the Olympic Classes to allocate places to each nation wishing to compete in each class world championship to be staged at the 2003 ISAF Olympic Classes World Championship was chaired by president Paul Henderson. This meeting lasted 4.5 hours. A system was agreed which was taken forward to the Events committee on 13/11/02.

SAILING COMMITTEE MEETING - 12/11/02

The sailing committee is made up of the chairman and vice chairman of each of the specialist boat classes (boards, centreboard dinghies, keel boats and catamarans). It is a specialist technical committee and as such is an important committee within the ISAF structure.

·          MJOD accepted as International Class  - approved

·          Supplied Equipment For The 2004 Olympic Regatta – Competitors to bring their own

EVENTS COMMITTEE MEETING - 13/11/02

- Olympic qualification system proposed after discussion with the classes (see meeting of 11/11/02) was amended slightly and approved

- Extract from strategy document approved by the events committee “Olympic equipment should be encouraged to evolve (Tornado) rather than ISAF instigating revolution”

- Submissions on equipment to be delivered to ISAF in time for consideration by ISAF Mid-Year meeting

- Council procedure for selection of equipment for the Olympics (052-02) - approved unanimously

- Submission #45-02 is deferred for 12 months (HKYA submission on windsurfing events)

- Criteria for the selection of Olympic equipment (55-02,b,) - delete 30%; insert - to comply with the current IOC gender participation regulations -

- Early selection: max 40%: limited to equipment sailed at the next Olympic games: only by a vote of 75% in favour:

- Mixed sailing (39-02) - add to list of possible gender categories - mixed = multi-crew with at least 1 crew member of each gender: must also comply with IOC criteria:---REJECTED (all women members supported the proposal)

- Windsurfing test event supported (49-02)

- Working Party to consider changes to Olympic Class contracts (051-02)

- Unified Policy on flags on sails

- ISAF Eligibility - (026-02) rejected

OLYMPIC CLASSES MEETING WITH MUNDO VELA REF: 2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – 14/11/02

- 6 races in the qualifying round/ 11 overall/ one discard

- One reserve day

- Mundo vela have a secure server and can take on-line entries. IMCO will manage their own entries; Euro 50 to be returned to MV;

- IMCO to nominate/pay course representative; International Measurer; class president; secretary etc... And pay travel & accommodation expenses for class officials.

- ISAF is prepared to pay to get class approved PROs on each course;

- Conflict between FAV and Mundo Vela technical staff not resolved;

- Bow numbers on coach boats; penalize coaches not competitors; coaches to be allowed to move; pace boat for all coaches; no restriction on numbers of coaches;

- Entrance to Puerto Sherry is too narrow.... Only plans to move a few rocks…!

- No professional press & media presentation made

COUNCIL MEETING - 15/11/02

- It is proposed that the ISAF establish an Olympic Classes Administration Commission.

- ISAF propose to pay each Olympic Class £5000 in support of their class secretary’s expenses.

- IOC require sports federations to provide biographies on their competitors... hence the ISAF requirement for Olympic class competitors to register as an “ISAF sailor”

- All Windsurfing Committee recommendations approved.